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 Sessions & Events |
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Show Daily - Tuesday
Regional trends and issues
John Holding, Executive Vice President, Engineering and Product Development for Bombardier Aerospace, is the Executive Chair for ACE 2003. |
Most major carriers in the U.S. have restructured their operations to better match aircraft capacity with new passenger dynamics, and regional airlines naturally factor into these changes prominently. Restructuring has allowed airlines to renegotiate their contracts, allowing them to operate more regional aircraft. Many of the wide-bodied jets are being parked because of the current state of affairs with the airline industry.
"This is where the regional aircraft really come into the forefront," Holding said. "They can operate very economically. [Regional aircraft are] definitely the aircraft that are appealing to the airlines at the moment." And the U.S. isn't alone. Europe is experiencing similar trends, particularly eastern Europe.
With an expanding regional market, Holding sees a trend developing in the size of the fleet in terms of the number of seats. "We've gone from 50 seats to the 70- to 90-seat aircraft with the need for bigger-sized regional aircraft," he said.
Like the larger commercial-aircraft industry, the regional-aircraft industry faces financial woes. Another challenge—again not unique to regionals but nonetheless a challenge—is reliability.
"We have to realize reliability is very, very important to regional aircraft," he said. "These aircraft have very heavy cycles. They average an hour's flight. You do 3000 hours, you're doing 3000 cycles. So these aircraft are used seven days a week, six to seven flights a day. The availability and reliability [of regional aircraft] is very critical."
- Jennifer Newton
Undercarriage research
The new suspension model from researchers at SUS21 and Kyoto INstitute of Technology included the aircraft body being supported by a crank element set between it and the wheel. The crankpin U functions as an axle. Crankpin L, supported by ball-bearings or roller-bearings, swings like a pendulum, and is normally held at the lowest point by the force of gravity. By this model, the wheel can undergo rotary motion and circular motion simultaneously. Click to enlarge |
The moment at which a wheel of a landing aircraft touches the ground, the circumferential speed of the wheel begins to accelerate rapidly until it equals the horizontal velocity of the aircraft. At the moment of contact, the wheel meets great resistance to forward motion. As the undercarriage absorbs almost none of this longitudinal impact, the tire begins to smoke, while the oleo strut undergoes spin-up and spring-back.
For the wheel to absorb forward impact, it must be given longitudinal stroke. In conventional aircraft undercarriages, use of the oleo strut gives the wheel vertical stroke of 300 to 400 mm. However, longitudinal stroke on the nose gear is almost zero, while the main landing gear has about 10% of the vertical stroke due to the angle of inclined attachment. The trailing-link type undercarriage does give improved longitudinal stroke, but this type does not provide an adequate solution because it restricts the maximum vertical stroke. The displacement component ratio of vertical and longitudinal strokes is predetermined in the trailing-link type; it usually differs from the actual input component ratio.
Tommorrow at the World Aviation Congress & Exposition during the Acoustics, Dynamics, and Vibration technical session at 3:30 pm in Room 511F researchers from SUS21 Co. and Kyoto Institute of Technology will present its work on a new type of undercarriage containing a crank element that provides adequate longitudinal stroke. Dynamic analysis, assuming constant impact load operating upon the wheel, confirmed that the maximum temperature rise of the tire was lowered.
Computer simulation was conducted on the wheel contacting the ground from a state of free fall starting at 0.56 m from the bottom of the wheel to the runway, after the aircraft nose had been pulled up. Accordingly, a wheel operating with a crank element underwent acceleration in two stages, giving a significant reduction of approximately 47.4% in maximum sliding work of the tire, compared with a wheel operating without a crank element.
- Jean L. Broge
Joint A-5/A-6 symposium
A joint technical symposium will combine Committee A-6 Aerospace Actuation, Control, and Fluid Power Systems and Committee A-5 Landing Gear Systems during this year's Aerospace Congress & Exhibition (ACE). The symposium will be held at the Wyndham Hotel in Montreal this Thursday September 11, 2003, starting at 8:30 am and continuing until approximately 5:00 pm. The event is expected to take full advantage of the opportunities created by the ACE concept of many committees meeting at the same time to provide a recognized proactive and enabling forum for international aerospace standardization.
Current industry trends have placed increasing emphasis for major system integration on the landing gear community. A-5 is responding to this challenge with a guide for landing gear system integration, AIR 5451, currently in ballot. Joint meetings such as this symposium provide a cohesive strategy for extending communications and linkages to SAE Committees and Divisions under the Aerospace Council for addressing the challenges presented by this total systems responsibility.
Life prediction
Tomorrow researchers from Positron Systems will discuss Photon Induced Positron Annihilation (PIPA) as part of the Aviation Safety Conference during the Maintenance Safety II technical session in room 512G at 3:30 pm.
PIPA is currently being used to assess fatigue, creep, and embrittlement damage in aircraft components composed of metal alloys and composites. The technology has applications both in the early development phases of new aircraft components and engines, and in the assessment of problems in aging and legacy aircraft.
Because measurements can be performed at any time in the life of the component and accurate assessments of remaining life can be predicted based on relatively simple calibration processes, this technology provides a method to improve new designs, increase the life of existing aircraft, and optimize surveillance and maintenance requirements, according to the researchers.
- Jean L. Broge
Plenary sessions
Today: "Commercial aviation—Airline strategic planning"
Organized by Goodrich Aerostructures
8:00 am — 11:00 am in Room 517A
Wednesday: "Defense and homeland security—The new reality"
Organized by Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co.
8:00 am — 11:00 am in Room 517A
Thursday: "Supply management themes—21st century logistics"
Organized by Aerospace North America
8:00 am — 11:00 am in Room 517a
Cable ties
Cobra series low-profile nylon 6/6 cable ties from Advanced Cable Ties, Inc. offer reduced head height and rounded edges that eliminate cuts or abrasions to wires, cables, hoses, products, and users, increasing safety in confined spaces. A tamper proof pawl located under the tie's head makes it inaccessible when bundled. A grooved head design provides improved strength, yet allows the head to flex around the contour of bundled wires or tubing. The tail features finger grips for easy handling and allows partial closure without engaging the pawl.
For more information, visit Booth 709
Cleaning tips
Connector cleaning tips from Alcoa's AFL Telecommunications' Noyes Fiber Systems use a molded, sintered polymer cleaning tip rather than a fabric or foam-covered stick to trap contamination and wick cleaning solvents from bulkhead connectors. The cleaning tip is porous and pliable to conform to any fiber end-face polish geometry. The dual-head design permits wet and dry cleaning in one swab; it traps and holds liquid and particle contaminants in an absorbent open-cell matrix ranging from 10-25 µm. Tips are available in standard and military connector sizes.
For more information, visit Booth 1803/1805
Simulation software
Ansoft Corp.'s Simplorer 6.0 simulation software was designed for the digital prototyping of multi-technology systems used in the aerospace industry. The environment was built on co-simulation technology that enables engineers to model systems comprised of analog, digital, mixed-signal, electronics, mechanics, hydraulics, controls, and other technologies without having to choose between proprietary modeling languages. Simultaneous operation of technologies enables close design collaboration between suppliers and OEMs. Other features include the use of VHDL-AMS modeling language for analog mixed signal design, compatibility with SPICE 3F5 format, support of dc and ac analysis, and a hydraulics library.
For more information, visit Booth 401
Alignment system
Lockheed Martin is using a Laser Tracking Alignment System from ATT Metrology Services for boresight alignment on the latest F-16 aircraft. The system achieves improved alignment accuracy of the navigational and weapon systems on the aircraft, allows the alignments to be performed in less time, and combines high-quality graphical user interface with a measurement technique that makes precise measurement tasks easy to complete. The system also allows aircraft mechanics to perform boresight alignment work with minimal training.
For more information, visit Booth 802
Resource planning
Delmia's aerospace solution allows manufacturing engineers and process planners to define, validate, manage, and deliver content needed on the shop floor to manufacture air- or spacecraft. The solution is built on the Dassault Systemes 3D PLM architecture, including a database for managing product, process, and resource objects and their interrelationships under configuration management and change control. Benefits of the system include reductions in time-to-market, overall costs, and risks for an air vehicle program. The key technology enabler for the solution and its ability to support concurrent product and process design is the PPR-Hub, a database environment that provides the infrastructure necessary to allow process and resource planning to occur.
For more information, visit Booth 402
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